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A road runs through this issue

The Feb. 8 Jackson Hole News & Guide reports that a judge has again chastised the Bush administration for violating federal law when it overturned the Clinton-era Roadless Rule. And she has issued an order protecting 52 million acres of federal roadless forest lands nationwide from roads or surface disturbance related to energy development.

Though it's likely that feds and states will continue to litigate this good idea to death (why?), I'm going to celebrate by tucking into this great new volume of essays on the topic from intrepid roadless defenders Wildlands CPR just received at my office: A Road Runs Through It. "Road-ripping," writes Annie Proulx in her foreword, "is a meaningful ritual that seeks to reestablish the correct order of the world." Amen.

And what should that tell us?

The IPCC's official total temperature increase since 1850 has gone from .6° Celsius to .76° C (or about 1.4° Fahrenheit).

The Fourth Assessment also explains that, "For the next two decades a warming of about 0.2° C per decade is projected for a range of [emission scenarios]. Even if the concentrations of all greenhouse gases and aerosols had been kept constant at year 2000 levels, a further warming of about .1° C per decade would be expected."

Their best estimate for a low emissions scenario is still a temperature increase of 1.8° C by 2100. Their best estimate for a worst case emissions scenario projects 4.0° C -- and recent research suggests that would give us sea level rise of 6 inches a decade in 2100.

Whaddya say we try to stick with the low emissions scenario?

Tell it like it is, Nancy

In her continuing effort to focus attention on global warming, Speaker Nancy Pelosi took the unusual step of appearing as a witness at the House Committee on Science and Technology's hearing on The State of Climate Change. You can read her testimony here.

It’s good

Originally (paid link) published in Z Magazine, February, 2007 Volume 20 #2. Reposted with permission.

Review: Heat: How to Stop the Planet from Burning

Doubleday Canada, 2006, 304 pp.

By George Monbiot

George Monbiot's Heat: How to Stop the Planet from Burning is a brilliant, flawed, and deeply important look at what it will take to slow global warming below a catastrophic level.

Monbiot, one of the clearest and wittiest writers about politically difficult subjects today, tackles the problem of phasing out fossil fuels without illusions. Books on global warming normally expend most of their words to show how dangerous the problem is. Then, at the last, they point to a few partial solutions and say "more like that, please." Or they simply give up on a comfortable life for everyone and turn to a kind of gloating Puritanism and say "You will have to suffer, but it will be good for you in the end." In contrast, Monbiot takes a step-by-step look at how different sectors of our economy could run on drastically less carbon.

Ugh

Yesterday the White House released a letter defending its record on global warming. I was trying to build up the intestinal fortitude necessary to say something intelligent about it — something other than PUKE! — but Chris Mooney beat me to it. Just read his thing. Suffice to say, this is the latest of many […]

Marlin Banned-O

Fisherfolk angle to keep marlin off of menus Hoping to smack down commercial fishing operations that are decimating Pacific marlin populations, sports anglers have launched a “No Marlin on the Menu!” campaign to discourage diners from ordering the popular game fish. To preserve marlin populations, many sportsfolk keep just one fish per day, per boat, […]

Vanna can’t save you now

Pat Sajak — yes, the host of Wheel of Fortune — weighs in on the whole global warming thing, and folks, he’s just not convinced. Which old chestnuts trouble Pat? Well, 30 years ago, scientists thought the earth was cooling! Anyway, it’s just a natural cycle. Let’s consult our Skeptics Guide. Yup: here and here. […]

Maybe

I'm a day or two late on this, but there's promising news from Oregon on Measure 37. Governor Kulongoski has proposed legislation that essentially puts a temporary moratorium on the most obnoxious results of the law. (See here and here [pdf] for the details.)

Kulongoski's bill will still allow rural landowners to continue with small-scale claims. In fact, it should actually speed up the processing of these claims. So legitimate claimants who want to build a single family house on their property -- or subdivide to build a new house -- will be allowed to.

Seems like smart politics to me.

You’ve got to see this photo

When it comes to effective messages, sometimes picture is worth a thousand books by George Lakoff. I'll give you a perfect case of well-intentioned words getting trounced in the marketplace of ideas. You have to see this.

DOE won’t pay up enough for nuclear cleanup

The following is a guest post from Natalie Troyer, publications and volunteer coordinator at Heart of America Northwest. —– Let’s shake a Magic 8-Ball and ask it a probing question. “Is it a good idea to dump more nuclear waste into a site that’s already listed as the most contaminated spot in the Western Hemisphere?” […]